Shift to green gathering pace in China

Let's do the maths: a one per cent increase in urbanisation in China will require 600 million tonnes of steel, cement and bricks, as well as more than 1004 square kilometres of land.

This one per cent increase in urbanisation will also require more than 60 million tonnes of coal. As just 1 kilogram of coal emits 2.93 kilograms of carbon dioxide, 60 million tonnes of coal will emit more than 175 million tonnes of CO2.

That's around the same amount of emissions as generated by 31 million cars in a year.

These numbers are daunting, but the Chinese are well aware of the challenges of, as Minister Qiu Baoxing, Vice Minister of Housing and Urban-rural Development put it, the "big machine" of urbanisation.

They also recognise the opportunities. Minister Qui said that one hundred green buildings in China will save 766,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, as well as around 13 million tonnes of water.

"We know that these 100 projects, even though they are large in terms of scale, are just a very small part of the total construction projects that we have in China. Therefore, Premier Wen Jiabao said recently that green building is crucial to the long term development of China," Minister Qui said.

The shift to green is certainly gathering pace. Most of China's provinces have established green building research centres, and, as Minister Qui says, "more than twenty provinces have established chapters of the China Green Building Council, which translates the theory into action."

In addition, more than one fifth of cities have already carried out their urban planning for ecocities, which sets a solid foundation for the future development of green buildings, communities and cities.

Over the last five years, the Chinese Government's focus has been on voluntary measures, which have on average yielded one hundred certified green buildings a year. The Chinese expect these 'green labelled' buildings to rise to between three and five hundred a year.

The Chinese Government has also rolled out green building incentives, including subsidies and tax exemptions for green buildings. The government is specifying that 80 per cent of projects in demonstration eco-cities should be green, and has also established recommendations for land development which it believes will generate future green building growth. Minister Qui says, "if you do not build a green building, you will not get this land, which means that in future the [amount of] green buildings will rise dramatically."

So, where are the opportunities for countries outside China? The ChinaGBC has established a Foreign Membership Scheme, which will provide the ChinaGBC with financial support while helping international companies gain introductions into the growing China green building market.

Learn more about the China GBC International Corporate Membership Scheme.

Jane Henley
Chief Executive Officer
World Green Building Council